


Going On a SQUIP Hunt (and we're not scared)

by penumbra_w



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Jeremy has anxiety, M/M, Panic Attacks, Road Trips, Slow Burn, a lot of elements are used from the book, college au except none of them go to college, the terrible murder of beanie babies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 22:34:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11217630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penumbra_w/pseuds/penumbra_w
Summary: Armed with Mountain Dew Red, a defective supercomputer, and a whole lot of repressed feelings, Michael and Jeremy set out to end the SQUIPS once and for all. Road Trip AU.





	Going On a SQUIP Hunt (and we're not scared)

**Author's Note:**

> Now with Michael Mells' #1 Playlist for Statewide SQUIP Murder: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7MuBXxQRQfVmHc6xMahYcQ_dt3PiSClc

Jeremy wasn’t at college. He wasn’t at home either, nor was he with his mom - _“Yes, Mrs. Heere. He’s fine. No, it’s not a big deal.”_ \- so Michael had taken to desperate measures.

Backpack stuffed with Mountain Dew Red, cellphone in hand, he took to the streets.

“Jeremy,” he yelled into an alleyway. “Jeremy Hee-eeere.”

His sneakers were soggy from the morning showers, but that didn’t matter. For all he knew, Jeremy was kidnapped, or possessed by an evil supercomputer, or eaten by radioactive zombies or something.

“Jeremy!”

An old woman sent him a sympathetic smile as she hobbled past. See, she knew what was at stake. Unlike some people.

“Look,” Jake had said in his stupid, dumb, not-concerned-enough-for-Jeremy’s-wellbeing voice. “The guy’s been super bummed out for a while. Maybe he just had to get away for a bit and never come back. Y’know, like parents do.”

Whatever. Jake’s issues were his business. If no one was going to try find him, then it was up to Michael to do what was right. It also felt a lot more rewarding than finishing the introduction paper due tomorrow.

“Jeremy! Where are you?”

“Excuse me, young man?” The old woman came hobbling back. “Have you checked the pound? When I lost my dear Dixie, that’s where she wound up.”

He stiffened. “Um, no. Sorry. Jeremy’s not a, um…” Of course, she thought Jeremy was some dog. What moron runs through the streets screaming after a _guy_? Maybe he shouldn’t have lit up beforehand.

The old lady reached into her purse. “Why don’t I hand you the pound’s number? The woman at the front desk is simply lovely, you’ll be in good hands.”

Ugh. He didn’t have time for this. Michael turned on his heels and sprinted down the alley, leaving the lady shrieking behind him. Aw hell, she was probably squipped anyway. Trying to slow him down on purpose. He shouldn’t feel bad.

Michael called Jeremy’s name for the hundredth time, a few kids over the road stopped to stare.

“What breed is it?” One of them yelled over the road.

“He’s not a dog!”

Honestly, Michael thought. These people were morons. Did it look like he was handing out Lost Dog flyers? Actually, that might not be a bad idea.

He glanced at his phone. Six missed messages. Four of them were asking about the due paper, as if it actually mattered. He pulled up Christine’s contact name.

 **[M. Mell]** heyy so u have a photocopier right??? Im thinking of making some flyers

 **[C.Canigula]**???? Did you even get my messages?

 **[M. Mell]**.. idk maybe.

 **[C.Canigula]** Read up.

Michael scrolled up, and yeah, she had messaged him. He already knew that. So what if he had ignored her? It’s not like they were on bad terms, it didn’t mean anything. It’s not like she had totally stolen his best friend and he blamed her for said best friend injecting himself with super corrupt technology. Not at all.

There it was, though. From almost an hour ago.

 **[C.Canigula]**  I saw Jeremy @ the mall gas station. Is he ok??

Oh. My god. Michael took back any bad feelings he may or may not have had about Christine. She was the best, she was super smart, she deserved a role on Broadway. Maybe he would start dating her before Jeremy got the chance. Although, that thought made his stomach churn.

 **[M. Mell]** THANKYOUTHAKNYOU YOURE THE BEST

 **[C.Canigula]** ;-) Awww, ty! Tell Jeremy I said Hi!

Michael broke into full sprint towards the bus station. The mall was on the other side of town, there was no way he would make it on foot.

With a couple cents left in his pocket, and a whole litre of Mountain Dew, Michael shuttled back into Middleborough with only one person on his mind.

 

* * *

 

How long had Jeremy been sleeping in his car? A day, two days? It was long enough for his drool to have left a cracked yellow stain on the dashboard.

A fist pounded on his side window. “Hey! You’ve been here all night, man! Move your car!”

His heart stuttered. He didn’t mean to be an inconvenience, but he had a lot on his mind right now. The days had blurred into one big hallucination and the sky glowed a shade of blue where he wasn’t sure whether it was morning or evening. There was a lot to process.

_Apologise. Tell him you fell asleep._

Speaking of…

“I don’t take orders from you,” he muttered.

The gas attendant pounded harder. “Hey, psycho! Get the hell out of here. You filled up hours ago.”

Jeremy sighed. He couldn’t even see the guy through the window, which could either mean there was fog in the window or fog in his eyes.

“Sorry,” he tried to say.

God, his brain was swelling. All of his grey matter pressed red hot against the sides of his skull. So, this was how he died. A squip-induced brain bleed.

 _Jeremy_ , it whispered. _I can promise you that none of this came from me. Your migraine is a product of the opposing electrical current that ran through the squip network at the school play._

“So, everyone feels like this?”

_No. Only you._

Jeremy opened his mouth to snap back, but the squip acted first. A cool sensation flooded through his skull. Tension rolled out of Jeremy’s shoulders and when his eyes snapped open, his vision was crisp again.

“Thanks.”

_Our gas attendant is calling the police._

Uh oh.

Sure enough, the guy was all but yelling into his cell phone, shooting Jeremy a few dirty looks. What the hell was supposed to do now?

_Drive._

Jeremy slammed on the gas pedal and reversed back onto the road.

In the distance, the attendant kept screaming. “Hey! Hey! I’ve got your number, pal. You’re not going nowhere with the police after you.”

Shit, shit, shit. Jeremy ripped down a side street, past the sports bar and strip mall McDonalds. He wasn’t ever going to see them again where he was going.

_Don’t be so dramatic. The police won’t pursue you, there’s a robbery on the other side of town. Even if they do track your license plate, your parent will get the bill, not you._

Reassuring, but that wasn’t what he meant.

The squip fell silent.

They tore off towards the highway, further from the mall, further away from town. Jeremy was definitely over the speed limit by now, but the squip would tell him if there were any cops nearby.

_Pull over._

He checked his side mirror. The road looked empty to him.

_Pull over at the bus stop._

No, they were leaving town. That was the plan. One that Jeremy had come up with all by himself, without any supercomputer ordering him around.

_Jeremy, I understand that you don’t trust me. However, you will be forty eight percent less likely to succeed if you don’t pull over at the nearest bus stop for at least five minutes._

Lies. Lies and slander. The squip would do anything to gain control. The bus stop started to loom in the horizon up ahead, a black square printed against pale blue.

_Slow down._

He slammed on the gas pedal. It flattened against the car floor. The trees by the road hurtled past until they became a wall of colour.

_Jeremy!_

Electricity jolted through his fingers. Steering wheel swung to the left. Jeremy swung and skidded, around and around, his head cracked against the glass, around and around. He scrambled for the handbrake.

The car groaned to a stop. It was facing the wrong way, but at least they were safe off road.

That swelling feeling had returned in full force, burning behind his eyes. He tried to move his hands back on the wheel, but they weren’t responding. White sparks burst before his eyes. Honestly, Jeremy wouldn't be surprised if this was some kind of permanent brain damage.

“What the fuck?”

_Jeremy._

“No, what the fuck was that?”

_Jeremy, you need to calm down. I can’t let you drive when you’re panicking like this._

He opened his mouth to protest, but the squip wasn’t wrong. His heartbeat throbbed in his ears, his fingers shook unsteadily. Still, he wouldn’t be like this if the squip hadn’t derailed the car.

_You were panicking long before I took action. Just take the time to calm down, and I’ll let you drive anywhere you like._

Take the time to calm down? Easier said than done. Jeremy couldn’t even catch his breath to think about it. The car felt tight around him and -- oh, god, the car. Dad was going to kill him.

_The car is fine. It hasn’t sustained any damage. Jeremy, you need to listen to me._

Jeremy swore that he was done listening to it, especially after it had tried to turn his friends into a big old zombie army. He could do this on his own, but… he didn’t know what to do. The seatbelt cut into his stomach, his head - shit, it was burning.

_Breathe in - slowly! - breathe in for five seconds. Focus on the way that the oxygen fills your diaphragm, focus on the way it feels in your nose._

Jeremy did. He let his stomach inflate like a balloon. God, he was useless again. He couldn’t do anything on his own, he had to rely on the squip for something as easy as breathing.

_You can breathe just fine on your own. Now, exhale through your mouth for seven seconds._

He did as he was told. Seven seconds was a lot longer than Jeremy remembered, and it was hard to get all the air out without him gasping.

The squip took him through eight more rounds of breathing. Five, seven, five.

_Like the pattern of syllables in a haiku._

Jeremy didn’t know what a haiku was, so he wasn’t going to argue with the computer of near-infinite knowledge.

A few more rounds. Five in, seven out, five in.

_Let go of any extraneous thoughts. The only thing you should think about is the air travelling through your body._

Five, seven, five. Jeremy’s stomach swelled and deflated like an air bag.

He placed one hand on the steering wheel. It was fine, much less shaky, and even the headache had cooled off.

_Better?_

Yeah.

_Good, because Michael has been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes._

“Jeremy!”

He jumped a foot out of his seat. Thank god for seatbelts. The squip should have warned him, though, about Michael. His steady heartbeat quickened again. Was this optic nerve blocking making its return?

 _No, I can’t access that ability. You underestimate the level of focus you have, Jeremy. By putting all of your attention into breathing, you were able to block out any distractions entirely. It’s actually very impressive_ -

Nope. Jeremy wasn’t going to fall for any compliments, wouldn’t slip under its control again. He wondered why squips needed control over people so badly. Were they built as some super weapon? Was it some bug in the system?

_Not a bug. SQUIP programming is precise and complete._

Well, that wasn’t true.

He rolled down the window. “Michael, hey!”

“Dude!” Michael wasn’t smiling. “What’s up with you? No one’s seen you for weeks.”

Weeks? It hadn’t felt that long. Though, Jeremy supposed he’d been pretty caught up in his own head. “I was… getting some stuff together.” Not entirely a lie.

Michael peered into the car, his whole face scrunching up in disgust. “Ugh, it looks like you let some stuff go. Your car reeks, dude, and that’s coming from me.”

Jeremy’s cheeks prickled with heat. He swept a cheeseburger wrapper off the front seat where it landed on a small mountain of more cheeseburger wrappers. God, when did he last shower?

 _Invite Michael inside_.

“Uh, do you want a ride?” he asked.

His shoulders sagged in relief. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Michael didn’t enter the car quietly. He slammed doors, kicked the ecosystem of garbage away from his feet, and immediately offered to pick the music. Jeremy didn’t mind. Honestly, he would have hated it if Michael decided to tread lightly around him.

“So.” He had to yell over the bass rattling the car’s frame. “What the hell happened? I was gonna hang missing posters.”

“Kind of a long story.”

Michael planted two hands on either side of his face and twisted Jeremy to face him. “Dude. Answer me honestly. Does this have something to do with HAL 9000?”

_Say no._

“Yes.”

He sighed and unzipped his backpack. “Figures,” and with all the drama he could muster, Michael presented a full liter of Mountain Dew Red.

 _Don’t_.

“Uhh…”

_The Mountain Dew is necessary, as is Michael’s company, but you won’t get far by disabling me._

“Jeremy.” Michael gave the Mountain Dew a firm shake. “What’s up? What’s it saying to you?”

“It’s saying… well…”

Three images flashed through his brain: an attic stuffed with beanie babies, a burning laboratory, and finally, Jeremy’s car swerving out of control.

Okay, yeah, he got the idea. “It’s kind of a long story.”

“Shit, man. I’ve got the time.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “You don’t have any college papers to take care of?”

Michael laughed. “There’s always going to be college papers, there’s going to be a _million_ papers. But I’ve only got one of you.”

Jeremy didn’t look down, but his knee was suddenly warm with Michael’s hand clasped onto it. The heat from his hand crept up Jeremy’s face until he was sure he was bright red.

“That’s real corny, bro.”

Michael’s gaze flickered. He dropped his hand,a little sheepish. “Yeah, well. I’ve got your back.”

Jeremy figured that if anyone could make sense of the past week, it was Michael. He rolled the kinks out of his back, and started from the beginning. Although, he couldn’t help but feel that his knee was a little cold.

 _Oh, my god_. The squip laughed. It felt awful to have the squip laugh in his brain. The noise reverberated off every corner of his skull and sent a shudder down his spine.

“Okay, okay.” Jeremy cleared his throat.

“It all started when my Uncle Ray called from the hospital…”

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter is a big ol' flashback to what got Jeremy this far. Will include Aunt Linda and her beanie baby stash.


End file.
